A Christmas Present: The Beer Club of Britain

My sister-in-law gave me a couple of months’ worth of subscription to The Beer Club of Britain for Christmas, which was very kind of her. This is what was included in the first batch (four bottles each):

I hardly know any of these breweries (I know of Adnams, of course, and I’ve heard good things about Oakham but have yet to try any of their beers) so I have no idea what to expect. With the first batch you just get what you get, apparently, but with the following batches you’ll get the option to make changes to the selection. Judging from their web page, The Beer Club seems to have a fairly limited selection but it may be that they just don’t update their page very often – certainly the contents of the “Welcome Pack” they list on their web page bears no resemblance to the Welcome Pack I got.

My first impression is that the selection seems a bit… safe. Still, I’m looking forward to sampling the Bishop’s Farewell by Oakham. Maple-flavoured beer also sounds interesting (Maple Moon by Joseph Holt Brewery), as does “Dark bitter” (Stocking Filler by York Brewery).

Anyone have any experience of The Beer Club of Britain who would care to comment? Or comment on any of the beers?